Show business flair helps military entertain, draw possible recruits

March 31, 2005|By Deborah Horan, Tribune staff reporter.

National Guard recruiters last February rolled a custom-painted Humvee next to a WrestleMania tour bus parked at the entrance to Lincolnwood Town Center. Inside the mall, big-name wrestlers talked up the virtues of joining the military while they signed autographs on a makeshift stage. Recruiters handed out T-shirts at a booth nearby.

The strategy worked: The Guard netted about 100 names of potential enlistees during the two-day event, according to Maj. Steven Rouse, recruiting and retention officer for the National Guard's northern Illinois region.

Setting up camp at pro wrestling gigs is just one method the military is using to attract recruits as the armed forces face one of the biggest recruiting challenges in recent history.

The Guard is one of the sponsors of NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, and it parades an 11-foot-tall inflatable "GI Johnny" at races. Recruiters show up at state high school basketball tournaments to cheer in the bleachers and hand out pamphlets.

Last October, Guard recruiters went to Sterling, a town in western Illinois, to recruit at a rodeo put on by the High School Rodeo Association.

"We broke out the cowboy boots and the hats," said Rouse.

And the Guard is big on referrals. One program, called "Stripes for Buddies," offers an increase in pay grade to any Guard recruit who provides the name of a prospect who joins up. Another program--"Warrior for a Day"--encourages new recruits to bring friends to spend a day at boot camp.

The Army's strategy is similar. It brings a "Cinema Van"--an 18-wheeler fitted with a movie screen--to job fairs and concert venue parking lots, where a movie is shown promoting the Army's training, benefits and educational opportunities.

Recruiters also set up rock climbing walls at events to attract people who might want to compete. "If people have fun, maybe some will be interested in talking to us," said Sgt. Armin Englerth, a recruiter in Milwaukie, Ore., near Portland.

Some venues have been hostile, Englerth said. At a recent rock concert in Portland, the singer of a local band started chanting "blood for oil" when he saw the military uniforms of recruiters in the audience.

"I walked up to the guy on stage and gave him a card," Englerth said. "I said, `Come down here and get your facts straight, instead of just sitting up there with an open mike.'"

The Marines, meanwhile, hunt for recruits at country-music festivals and rock shows, where they bring a pull-up bar and set up an inflatable obstacle course near a Humvee in the parking lot. They have contests and hand out prizes--bumper stickers, T-shirts and key chains.

"We know our target audience--18 to 24-year-old males--is at that concert," said Sgt. Michael Freeman, a spokesman for the Marine's Portland recruiting station. "The idea is to get my recruiter kneecap-to-kneecap with them."

"You'd be surprised how much attention a beat-up red pull-up bar can attract," Freeman added. "The guys talk with us, joke with us, ask questions."

In Portland, the Rose Festival, an annual event that includes air shows and parades, is probably the most successful generator of leads, Freeman said.

In Chicago, the Marines set up outside the Tweeter Center during shows. They also go to the Rib Fest in Naperville and Boy Scout events to instill the idea of military service in young boys.

Sometimes they're asked to come to an event, particularly one where their image resonates with an audience.

Sgt. Keith Sandor, a Marine recruiter in Naperville, appeared recently at a Brooks and Dunn concert in Chicago. Band members had asked a few Marines to come backstage, he said. The next thing he knew, he was marching into the bright lights on stage and saluting while the band played "Only in America." The crowd went wild.

He watched a video of the event from his office in Naperville. It showed band members singing, he and other Marines marching on stage, and an American flag superimposed on the screen every few minutes.